| National Center on Sexual Exploitation partners with Victoria Hearst to protect minors from pornographic content | |
| Washington, DC (April 22, 2015) – Victoria Hearst, granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst, and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCSE) have partnered to protect children from becoming exposed to the pornographic content of Cosmopolitan Magazine by calling on retailers to stop selling the magazine to minors and to wrap the cover.“Despite Cosmopolitan’s claim that it targets adult women, it regularly features teen icons and even Disney stars on its sexually provocative covers to entice younger audiences,” said Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCSE).Hawkins noted that while the magazine has thus far avoided use of pornographic photos of the Hustler Magazine genre, its content is filled with pornographic essays, drawings depicting sex acts, and other salacious material so that it fits more in the category of a porn magazine that a women’s magazine.
Hawkins added, “Cosmopolitan Magazine has declined from a somewhat inspirational women’s magazine to a pornographic “how-to” sex guide, glamorizing topics such as group, anal, public, or violent sex acts in nearly all of their issues.” Cosmopolitan Magazine is currently accessible to children and thus it is helping to desensitize girls to accept and participate in the pornified culture around them, Hawkins noted. The articles, she said, pique the curiosity of vulnerable girls encouraging experimentation with the risky sex. Victoria Hearst explains her concern about Cosmopolitan being sold to children. She stated, “My family’s company, the Hearst Corporation, publishes Cosmopolitan Magazine. It contains graphic adult sexual material that, under most States’ Material Harmful to Minors laws, is deemed pornographic. Under these laws it is illegal for stores to sell Cosmopolitan to minors, and illegal to display the magazine where minors can see it and look at its content. Unfortunately, the people in authority at the Hearst Corporation refuse to acknowledge that Cosmopolitan is pornography, and they refuse to put a label on the magazine identifying it as ‘Adult Material.’ That is why the Cosmo Harms Minors campaign is necessary.” National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCSE) and Victoria Hearst are launching a national campaign to secure commitments from supermarket and other retail chains to wrap Cosmopolitan Magazines and halt their sales to minors, or to stop selling the magazine at all. To learn more and take action, please visit: CosmoHarmsMinors.com
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